The ground is thawing and soon it’ll be time to start working the soil again.

Whether you’re a long-time gardener or brand new to growing your own food, the Vancouver Neighbourhood Food Networks have got you covered this spring. Join an upcoming workshop to learn skills on early spring planting, growing Japanese vegetables, making the most of patios or small garden spaces, how to manage pests, and more.

There are also opportunities across the city to learn new skills, meet other gardeners, and volunteer in your community.

Join Riley Park gardeners to prepare the orchard area and for an Early Spring Planting workshop led by Chris Billion of One Love Farm (starts at 1pm). Gardeners will be planting the bed for the new residents of the Modular Housing unit at 37th/ Main. This will be the first of three seed planting workshops this year with Chris to demonstrate year-round tips to grow vegetables.

Join West End Neighbourhood Food Network and Village Vancouver at their monthly family friendly gatherings. Bring something yummy, share some good food and conversation with neighbours. Each month they present a mini-workshop on a different food and/or gardening related topic. The topic for March is amendments and fertilizers for patio and balcony gardeners.

The featured activity at this March meeting will be making seed packets. Organized by West End Neighbourhood Food Network, a group which shares information, organizes food and gardening workshops, saves and distributes seed, explores possibilities for creating more gardening spaces in the West End, and engages in other food and gardening related activities.

Community garden organizers and members from across Vancouver are invited to get together, share experiences and learn from one other. Join Riley Park Community Garden and Vancouver Parks Board (VPB) to share successes on how to engage community, what is working in your garden, common challenges, and how to work together.

Join us for our first seed swap of the year to trade or purchase new seeds and get your garden ready for the spring season! We will accept cash or swaps of seeds from your own garden in exchange for seeds from our collection. Find Renfrew-Collingwood Food Security Institute in the main entrance lobby of Collingwood Neighbourhood House.

The sun’s out and temperatures are warming up, which means the growing season is just around the corner! Interested in getting involved in the gardens at Gordon Neighbourhood House this spring and summer? Come learn about our garden programs at this garden volunteer meeting.

Save money, and grow a wider variety of garden veggies by starting your own seedlings! This workshop will go over everything you need to know to start your own vegetable seedlings: From what soil to use, to moisture and light requirements, to troubleshooting, and building your own DIY seedling setup.

Workshop is by Donation $5-$20 – no one turned away for lack of funds. RSVP to foodsecurity@cnh.bc.ca OR 604-435-0323 x. 237

Get your garden going with seeds for vegetables, herbs, and more. Browse the Grandview Woodland Community Seed Library collection, borrow seeds, and check out the library’s resources on seed saving and gardening. Explore their seasonal goodies and discover new seed varieties! Pick up kale, tomato, and other seeds to start this month and next.

Village Vancouver presents this workshop covering the basics of planning, preparing and starting a food garden. You’ll learn some simple techniques from Rhiannon Johnson for starting plants indoors and in the garden. Be rewarded with the taste of freshly grown veggies this season!

Start the gardening season by growing these early spring Japanese vegetables. Easy to grow, nutritionally dense, yet not readily available, make the most of your garden by growing these wonderful veggies. This hands-on Westside Neighbourhood Food Network workshop led by Tonari Gumi Garden Club will focus on five early spring vegetables. Participants will be offered additional seeds and plant starts, along with a sampling of these vegetables in delicious, yet simple Japanese dishes.

As anyone who’s ever gardened before knows, pests can sometimes be a real problem in the garden (and can be particularly discourging if you’re a new gardener). This Village Vancouver/West End Neighbourhood Food Network Urban Garden Club workshop will be led by Karen Ageson from Farmers on 57th. Participants will learn various ecologically sound techniques for minimizing damage and disappointment caused by pests in your garden.

Come together with Hastings-Sunrise gardeners Lauren and Shayna to work in the veggie garden and make pizza with the harvested ingredients. Enjoy healthy snacks created from the abundance of our community garden while chatting about healthy cooking, eating, and gardening.

Learn how and when to plant, grow, harvest, and store potatoes in this Village Vancouver workshop with Rhiannon Johnson. We?ll discuss the best varieties for our area, preparation for planting, feeding, preventing problems, and much more for growing tasty potatoes! Each participant will take potato ‘seed’ home with them.

Village Vancouver presents this workshop covering the basics of planning, preparing and starting a food garden. You’ll learn some simple techniques from Rhiannon Johnson for starting plants indoors and in the garden. Be rewarded with the taste of freshly grown veggies this season!

Come experience the joy of growing your favourite vegetables under the guidance of professional gardeners and educators, Karen Ageson and Jess Henry. The learning will be hands-on: you will plan, plant and tend your own garden plot, with instruction and support throughout the growing season. Along the way, you’ll learn about garden planning, soil health, seed starting, transplanting, weeding, watering and organic pest control.

$300 for 12 instructional sessions, supplies and use of a garden plot approx. 4’ x 8.′ We encourage you to garden with your family—registration cost is per plot, not per person. All supplies are included (except gardening gloves) and the food you grow is yours to enjoy.

Register online to reserve your spot in the course. If you have any questions or concerns, contact karen@farmerson57th.ca or 778-997-3609.

“Kitchens and dining room tables aren’t just places to make food. They’re also safe and familiar places to gather, connect, organize, plan and to recuperate. Food not only changes the feeling in a space, it also shifts behaviour.”

The dining room table offers more than a space to eat a meal. While breaking bread, a shared meal is an opportunity to sit down and converse with others. It offers space to share stories, create new ideas, or even informally practice language. As a shared activity, eating food connects people to community.

Combining the need for healthy, balanced meals with the need for more social spaces in the city, Vancouver Food Networks offer affordable meals for the community. Community meals are meant to offer meals which are accessible, so the cost of an average community meal is between $3 to $7. These are often homestyle meals, usually prepared and cooked on-site during the week. With advance notice, dietary considerations may be taken into account by the kitchen, too.

If $3 to $7 is still a barrier, free and by-donation meals are available. Breakfasts (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday) and lunches (Wednesday) are offered for free at the Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood House. By-donation lunches (Monday, Wednesday) are available at Gordon Neighbourhood House in the West End.

These community meals usually consist of multiple courses, including dessert. Weekday meals are offered throughout the city at Britannia Community Centre, Collingwood Neighbourhood House, Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House, Hastings Community Centre (for seniors), South Van Neighbourhood House, Little Mountain Neighbourhood House, and Kits Neighbourhood House.

Find a Food Network which offers free or low cost meals in your neighbourhood. Learn when you are welcome to drop by to eat a hearty meal and meet your neighbours at the same time.

Join the Vancouver Neighbourhood Food Networks for these upcoming fun and educational workshops and events including Grow Your Own Microgreens workshop, Thin Crust Pizza workshop, and the Renfrew-Collingwood Food Security Institute Town Hall.

Grow Your Own Microgreens

Micro greens are tasty and nutritious greens that can be eaten as a fresh snack or added to salad, smoothies, soups, and more. In this Village Vancouver workshop, you’ll learn how to grow your own trays of micro-greens at home, year-round.

Friday, January 25, 2019 from 9:30-11:00amStrathcona Community Centre (601 Keefer Street, Vancouver), Community RoomCost: $16.19 Register at the front desk.

For more info on Strathcona Food Programs, contact 604-713-1838 or email info@strathconacc.ca.

Renfrew-Collingwood Town Hall Meeting

Renfrew-Collingwood Food Security Institute is hosting a big community meeting and you’re invited! This is a chance to meet and talk about ideas for 2019. What kind of food events, workshops, and projects do you think should happen in the future? Come gather and talk about it!

Average monthly cost to feed a family of four in Vancouver is $1,098

With the rising cost of food, housing and overall living, the issue of addressing hunger requires a multi-dimensional approach. It does not exist on its own.

The latest Food Costing in BC report highlights the increasing cost of food. Produced by the BC Centre for Disease Control and Provincial Health Services Authority, this report breaks down the cost of a nutritionally adequate diet.

The cost to feed an average family of four in B.C. each month has risen by $151 over the past six years. (Image from BC Centre for Disease Control)

The data in this report represents the “average monthly cost of a nutritionally adequate, balanced diet in BC based on the National Nutritious Food Basket and provides insight into the effects of household food insecurity on individuals and families.”

Last year, chefs in the Downtown Eastside reported many challenges associated with their annual holiday meals. We heard stories of food waste and efforts to put on dignified experiences being hampered by the many ‘parachute’ groups that drop into the community and serve meals–often fast food–on the street.

DTES Kitchen Tables’Holiday Meal List

Neighbourhood Food Network member DTES Kitchen Tables Project sees the distribution of the holiday meal list as an opportunity not only to inform community members on where to find holiday meals but also for people serving meals to make more informed decision on when and where to do so.

Here, we share the updated meal list for the 2018/19 holiday season in the Downtown Eastside. Please share with anyone you know who might be organizing a “one-time” meal or distributing food in the Downtown Eastside in the coming months.

Note: Updated on December 5, 2018. Thank you to those who sent in feedback and corrections for the Holiday Meal List. Dounia Saeme of DTES Kitchen Tables has updated this list to reflect changes and additions.

If you haven’t yet heard, Sustenance Festival is well on its way in Vancouver. Sustenance Festival is a city-wide food, art, and culture festival supported by dozens of community partners, the City of Vancouver, and the Vancouver Parks Board.

This year, Sustenance Festival boasts over sixty events ranging from cooking workshops and food security talks to documentary screenings and art exhibits. Many of these events are free or low cost. Events take place at community centres, neighbourhood houses, and other spaces throughout the city.

This year, we are excited to see all of the events hosted by Vancouver Neighbourhood Food Network members. Check out the upcoming events happening at Sustenance Festival with the neighbourhood food networks. (more…)

This is an annual event organized by the Working Group for Indigenous Food Sovereignty in partnership with over 100 local organizations from Vancouver through Chase, B.C. It is also the kick off event for Sustenance Festival, a local community-based food, art, and culture festival.

Photo by Gary Haggquist, Wild Salmon Caravan

The Wild Salmon Caravan festivities began in downtown Vancouver, or what is known as Xwenelmexw on unceded Coast Salish territories.

The Wild Salmon Caravan Parade

Hundreds of people gathered in the streets to celebrate the beauty and resilience of wild salmon as an Indigenous food source, and a significant cultural and ecological keystone species.

Fall is here and we’re celebrating the bounty of the harvest. Check out the free family-friendly celebrations happening throughout the Vancouver Neighbourhood Food Networks this autumn.

Photo from Kits House’ Autumn Fair

South Vancouver Harvest Festival

Join the South Vancouver Food Network at their annual South Vancouver Harvest Festival on October 5th, 2018. They will be serving up delicious free food, you can press your own apple cider, have your face painted, and play games!

If you like to bake, enter a homemade dessert in the dessert competition for a chance to win a prize! This year’s theme is apples.

Apple Festival at Riley Park Community Garden

This event will feature a multi-cultural lunch, apple tasting, and apple cider pressing. Bring a potluck dish featuring apples from your country to share! This event is supported by Little Mountain-Riley Park Neighbourhood Food Network and featured as part of Sustenance Festival.

Autumn Fair 2018

Celebrate the season with Kits House and Westside Food Collaborative!

Kits House’s much anticipated 8th Annual Autumn Fair returns on Saturday October 27, 2018. This popular FREE community event brings in people of all ages together to meet their neighbours, have fun and celebrate the season!

The Autumn Fair fills an entire block with street vendors, food trucks, carnival games, a pumpkin patch, local musicians, and a farmers market. You can step inside Kits House to check out live entertainment, a haunted house, a pancake breakfast, and our tea room! The event will also feature a variety of entertainment, including a fun and popular kids character, an interactive theatre, and improv with The Fictionals Comedy Co.